


What Money Can Buy

by eriah211



Category: Primeval
Genre: M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Slash, Team, Teamwork, Undercover Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 02:24:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10526898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eriah211/pseuds/eriah211
Summary: Somebody is organizing hunting trips to the past and Lester ends up in an undercover mission to find out exactly who, where and how.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Livejournal in 2015.  
> Thanks to the great fififolle for the beta and common sense. Any remaining mistakes are mine.  
> Written for the Primeval Denial Art Challenge 2015, using fredbassett's awesome art as inspiration.

Some people would have expected a more sordid place, like an old warehouse or a shop with a secret room at the back, but this made more sense. If they wanted to attract clients with money, with really a lot of money, then luxury and comfort should be present at all times. And the offices of the most exclusive travel agency in the city, located on the top floor of a skyscraper, certainly met those requirements.  
  
One of Jenny’s sources had tipped her off about some very secret and exclusive hunting trips that offered the possibility of getting the most extraordinary trophies without leaving the country. She had managed to locate one of the participants from a previous trip and, to her shock, she had found the head of a smilodon hanging in his trophy gallery.  
  
Threats of ruining his political aspirations had eventually worked and the man had given them all the information he had about the people who organised the hunts. They were extremely cautious and the clients weren’t allowed to know the exact location of the hunting grounds (they were driven there in a vehicle with black windows and brought back the same way), but he had given them the address of the travel agency. He had also told them, quite proudly, that only a few exclusive clients were accepted on those trips, they wouldn’t accept just anybody.  
  
Considering the secrecy of these hunts, Lester had agreed that posing as a potential client was the fastest way to find the anomaly, but the original plan of Cutter being the undercover agent had made him cringe. Unfortunately it wasn’t just Cutter, none of the members of the team could be considered a good option to pose as a filthy rich millionaire, so Lester had sighed deeply and finally had volunteered himself. Cutter’s relief had been obvious, as well as Ryan’s discomfort.  
  
“There is no need to worry, Captain,” Lester had reassured him. “I’m more than capable of pretending I am an ill-mannered rich man who is used to doing as he pleases. I have vast experience in dealing with people like that, unfortunately. You wouldn’t believe how many of them end up working in the Home Office.”  
  
“I could always go in his place, mate,” Danny had offered to Ryan. “I look great in fancy clothes.”  
  
“Your fondness for the use of the term ‘mate’ is one of the many reasons why you aren’t suitable for this mission, Mr Quinn,” Lester had replied. “The only other person that could fit the job would be Ms Lewis, but unfortunately there is a high probability that she might be recognised after her inquiries about the agency.”  
  
Ryan had finally agreed with him, to Danny’s disappointment, but he had insisted on going along.  
  
“You’ll need a chauffeur, after all,” Ryan had said. “And that will be me.”  
  
Ryan had probably regretted the idea when he had seen the uniform, but it had been a bit too late to back out. Nevertheless, even though he had worn the black suit and the tie, he had discreetly tossed the cap aside.  
  
Jenny had made up a fake background for Lester, borrowing pieces of the interesting life of a friend’s friend, as she had said. Jenny hadn’t elaborated and Lester had considered it better not to ask further questions. He had just memorised it and got ready for his part. They had kept the agency under surveillance for a few days, to gain information about the place and the workers, and they had finally set their plan in motion.  
  


 

***

  
  
Lester looked at the other people in the gallery and found exactly what he had been expecting:  expensive clothing, impatient tics and many scornful looks.  
  
While normal travel agencies had leaflets to show their potential clients, Sapphire Skies had a long gallery with panoramic photographs and interactive monitors that showed the many possibilities they offered and a secretary that served tea and coffee in fine porcelain cups. There was also an exhibition of objects from the different travel destinations that was quite spectacular, particularly the collection of Zulu spears, but Lester tried very hard to look unimpressed by the whole thing.  
  
The place wasn’t crowded, but there were a considerable number of people walking around and they all had come with their assistants, who wore almost as expensive clothing and stuck-up expressions as their employers. Lester was glad to see that he had been right to ask Lorraine to come with him. If he was going undercover, playing the part of a bored millionaire with too much money in his hands, he didn’t want to stand out immediately because he hadn’t brought a personal assistant with him.  
  
His attire wasn’t going to make him stand out either. Lester prided himself on owning some fine and expensive suits, but for this occasion, just to make sure he would fit in, Lester had got an obscenely expensive suit for him and had asked Lorraine to find a matching one for her. They couldn’t keep them, of course, they were too expensive for the ARC budget, so they were going to have to return them eventually, but they were going to enjoy them while they could.  
  
The young woman was offering him some tea and coffee when a man in his thirties walked into the gallery with a charming smile and cleared his throat to get their attention.  
  
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for visiting our agency,” the man said. “As you have already been informed, this is just an example of the many vacation packages we can offer you, but I want to assure you that all of them are open to modifications. We can arrange different accommodations, variations in the length of time or activities... If you have in mind something specific that you can’t find here, don’t hesitate to ask.”  
  
Then the man proceeded to walk around, chatting a bit with each potential client, obviously trying to charm them into booking a trip. Lester waited patiently for his turn while he looked disdainfully at some amazing pictures of the Diamond Ring tour in Iceland. By his side Lorraine kept herself busy, checking fake schedules and mails on her iPad.  
  
“I can see you don’t find Iceland very exciting, but I hope something else has caught your eye, Mister...” the man said when he walked to Lester’s side.  
  
“Harwood, David Harwood,” Lester said, shaking the hand the man was offering him. “To be completely honest, I haven’t found what I was looking for...”  
  
“Well, Mr Harwood, that’s why I’m here,” the man said, smiling brightly. “My name is Matthew Andrews and if you’d like to tell me what you are looking for, I will do everything in my power to find it for you.”  
  
“A friend of mine told me excellent things about your hunting safaris,” Lester explained. “Unfortunately, all I’ve seen here is the usual hunting trips I could find in the travel agencies of any shopping centre in the country.”  
  
“Amongst our travel offers you can find many hunting destinations on any continent in the world,” the man immediately replied. “If you could tell me the details of that safari...”  
  
“That’s the most curious thing about it, Mr Andrews,” Lester said, looking pointedly at him. “My friend claimed he didn’t know the exact location of the hunt, isn’t it ridiculous? But he insisted that it was the best hunting experience anybody could ever have.”  
  
The smile on Mr Andrews’ face faltered only for a moment when he heard that, but it was enough for Lester to notice.  
  
“It sounds highly unlikely, indeed; surely your friend could give you more details about the trip...”  
  
“He only said it was the biggest game hunting ever offered and that the trophies were something... from another world,” Lester replied. “He told me to ask for Diana, but he didn’t seem to remember the full name.”  
  
“I think there are a few workers in our company with that name, but with no surname, it may take some time to find the right one,” the man said. “Of course, if you could tell me your friend’s name, that would help me to find her faster.”  
  
“Well, see, that’s another thing he insisted on,” Lester replied, smirking. “He wanted to remain anonymous. He was adamant about it. He said he wasn’t supposed to talk about it, but I was, if I must say, quite persuasive.”  
  
“Then I will make some phone calls,” the man said with his unfaltering smile. “Meanwhile why don’t you take another look around, there is a fantastic safari in th-“  
  
“No, thank you, I’ve spent enough time here already,” Lester stopped him drily. “I have many businesses to attend to, and this is starting to look as if it’s been a waste of my time. Thank you, Mr Andrews. Call me if you have something really interesting to offer me.”  
  
Not giving him a moment to react, Lester walked towards the exit without looking back. Lorraine smiled politely and gave Andrews a fake business card before quickly following Lester.  
  
“Do you think it will work?” Lorraine asked as they arrived at the car park.  
  
“We’ll have to wait and see, Miss Wickes.”  
  
Ryan got out of their rented luxurious car as soon as he saw them. He looked terribly bored, but Lester knew him well enough to know that he had probably been assessing the risks and examining the surroundings very carefully while they were gone.  
  
“Did they take the bait?” Ryan asked when they all got in the car.  
  
“I certainly think I’ve made quite an impression,” Lester answered. “Let’s hope it’s enough to make them curious and greedy.”  
  


 

***

  
  
A few days later Jenny confirmed that he had indeed made them curious. Her contacts had told her that somebody had been checking Lester’s fake background, but they had all stuck to the plan and his cover was intact. Then Lester finally got a call from the agency asking him to come to a meeting to discuss their offers.  
  
“My time is very valuable so if you really have something interesting for me, you can send me the information by email,” Lester said smugly. “If I consider it’s important, I’ll make an appointment with you. Thank you very much.”  
  
He hung up the phone and looked at Jenny’s shocked expression.  
  
“Oh, my...,” Jenny exclaimed. “Why did you have to do that?”  
  
“We don’t want to seem very eager, obviously,” Lester said matter-of-factly.  
  
Jenny sighed deeply and resumed her conversation with Lester about the next meeting with the Home Secretary. They didn’t get far, though, because only five minutes later Lester received an email on his phone. There was just a photo in it, but it was enough. He showed it to Jenny without saying a word.  
  
“I’m going to call the team,” Jenny said, getting up and walking out of Lester’s office.  
  
The photograph was beautifully taken, like the others in the gallery. It was a colourful panoramic view of a green landscape on a sunny day, but the most amazing part of the composition was, without a doubt, the mammoths that walked freely under the blue sky.

 

...


	2. Chapter 2

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea,” Ryan said while he drove Lester back to the travel agency.  
  
They had made an appointment for a private meeting to discuss the details of the safari, but they hadn’t added any other useful information. Lorraine had volunteered herself to go with him, but they had finally agreed that it wasn’t going to be necessary; they had said a ‘private meeting’, after all, and the less people put at risk, the better, Ryan had explained very clearly.  
  
“It’s not proof enough,” Lester said. “They could claim it’s a promotional photograph for a thematic park or an imaginative photo manipulation to create an atmospheric landscape.”  
  
“But we know it’s real,” Ryan replied.  
  
Lester could see Ryan’s frown in the rear-view mirror. He knew the soldier would have liked a more direct approach to the problem, but sometimes it was better to be subtle.  
  
“We are _almost sure_ it’s real,” Lester pointed out. “And we don’t know where the anomaly could be. I know you were in favour of Cutter’s elaborated plan of busting in and kicking the answers out of them, Captain, but this will be faster and less painful, for everybody.”  
  
Ryan’s mouth twitched, as if he was about to add something, but he kept quiet and none of them said anything else for the rest of the drive.  
  
They soon arrived at the car park under the luxurious building and Ryan, taking his part very seriously, got out first to open the door for Lester.  
  
“Well, now it’s my turn. This little thing will let you know how things develop,” Lester said, touching his tiepin meaningfully.  
  
Just to be sure, Lester was carrying a bugging device in the tiepin, an old-fashioned trick that would allow Ryan and the team back at the ARC to know what was happening at any moment.  
  
“I should go with you anyway,” Ryan replied.  
  
“I don’t see a reason why my chauffeur should have to come up with me to a meeting, really,” Lester said. “Don’t worry, Captain. I’m just about to be all buttered up by people who want my money. Not exactly entertaining, but not dangerous either. Just wish me luck and wait patiently here for my return.”  
  
“Good luck, sir,” Ryan replied while Lester walked towards the lift, but he didn’t sound convinced at all.  
  


 

***

  
“This is a highly unusual amount of money, Diana,” Lester said when he was informed of the price of the hunting trip.  
  
The woman that had been waiting for him in the meeting room had introduced herself simply as Diana, not bothering to say her surname. She was a tall, athletic woman in her forties and although the fake informality could have given a careless first impression, she had been very cautious during the whole interview.  
  
“It’s an unusual experience, the one we are offering you, Mr Harwood,” she replied smiling. “Of course, we don’t expect you to provide the whole payment in one instalment...”  
  
“That’s not the problem at all,” Lester replied immediately. “But I don’t usually spend such an amount of money in a vague promise. You are offering me the chance to hunt a mammoth, how is that even possible? And where is this supposedly wonderland for hunters? There are arrangements I have to make if I’m going to have to leave the country...”  
  
“You won’t need to leave the country, I can assure you of that,” she answered. “As for the exact location, well, I’m sorry, but to keep this as an exclusive service to our best clients we have to keep it secret, as you could imagine.”  
  
“I insist, I would need some kind of proof,” Lester replied.  
  
Diana sighed lightly and stared thoughtfully at the folder on the table for a moment.  
  
“We’ll see what we can do to satisfy your request, Mr Harwood,” she finally said with an indulgent smile.  
  
“Well, then we’ll be in touch again. Soon, I hope.”  
  
Lester stood up and Diana walked him to the hall, while she assured him that he would be getting news from them very, very soon.  
  
They shook hands and Lester was ready to go back to the car when he saw something that made him stop and sigh deeply. Standing casually by the secretary’s desk, Ryan was chatting with the young woman, who was smiling coyly at him while fidgeting with her necklace. It was Lester’s turn to frown.  
  
The soldier immediately noticed him. He smiled apologetically to the secretary, left the cup of tea he was holding on the desk, and walked towards him.  
  
“Sir, you forgot this in the car,” he simply said, handing Lester a small phone.  
  
Lester raised an eyebrow, not knowing what that was about, but he took the phone anyway.  
  
“Thank you, Ryan, but it’s time to go, so if you have to say goodbye, be quick,” he said, waving dismissively his hand at the secretary’s desk.  
Lester walked down the hall slowly and called the lift. He waited patiently there, but he kept glancing discreetly at Ryan. The soldier was thanking the secretary for her help and Lester could see, even from where he stood, that the young woman was blushing. He couldn’t blame her. Even a young balding man that had just come out from one of the offices had stopped to stare at him, nervously adjusting his glasses. Ryan had always looked good in uniform and even though the chauffeur outfit wasn’t as imposing as his usual black fatigues, the truth was that it fitted him very nicely in all the right places.  
  
Ryan finally said goodbye and walked to the lift and the knowing smile that was playing on his lips told Lester that he knew he had been staring. It wasn’t the first time he had been caught, and Lester was mortified. He was Ryan’s boss and shouldn’t behave like an over-excited teenager, ogling the soldier when he thought the man wasn’t looking. It wasn’t professional, even if Ryan didn’t seem to mind much.  
  
“I don’t think this is mine at all,” Lester said as he handed the small phone back to the soldier once they got in the lift. “Would you care to explain what has happened? You were supposed to wait in the car.”  
  
“The bugging device stopped working the moment you stepped into the meeting room,” Ryan answered. “I was worried. And the rest of the team was too; they were already on their way when I phoned them to tell them everything was fine.”  
  
“We still have nothing against them. If the SF had barged in, kicking the doors down, everything would have been ruined,” Lester said. “And all because a device malfunctioned.”  
  
“I think the device was working perfectly fine, sir.”  
  
Lester turned to look at him questioningly.  
  
“My communicator stopped working too, when I went up to check what was happening and got closer to the meeting room. It looks like they have some kind of signal inhibitor around it that fries electronic devices,” Ryan explained. “When I tried to get into the meeting room with the excuse of giving you the phone the secretary told me that phones weren’t allowed in that area.”  
  
“Yes, they explained it to me when I was about to go in and I had to turn off _my phone_ ,” Lester said pointedly. “I hope they aren’t wondering how it is that I have two.”  
  
“It was the first excuse that came to my mind, sir,” Ryan replied.  
  
They finally got to the car park and walked to their car. Once inside, Lester relaxed slightly and took out his phone to turn it on.  
  
“Well, you can tell the team we are on our way back now,” Lester said to Ryan. “No need to keep them on edge.”  
  
Ryan phoned the ARC and told them they would be back in half an hour, if traffic wasn’t too bad, which was, in Lester’s opinion, a rather optimistic hope.  
  
“So they didn’t show their cards this time either?” Ryan asked when he had finished.  
  
“Not at all. That woman was very careful with every word she said,” Lester answered. “It’s probably for the best, since we couldn’t record anything. We’ll have to think of a better way next ti-“  
  
A knock on the window of the car startled him. It was one of the car park security guards, who was holding a small piece of folded paper and signalling him to get out of the car.  
  
Lester glanced at Ryan, who immediately got out of the car to open his door and then Lester got out slowly .  
  
“Yes, can I help you?” Lester asked while Ryan stood right between him and the security guard.  
  
“Is this... David Harwood?” the man asked, reading the name on the paper.  
  
“Yes, is there any problem?”  
  
 “Oh, no, sir!” the man answered. “Miss Diana has called us. It looks like she forgot to give you something important and wanted to ask you to wait a few minutes. She is already on her way down here.”  
  
Lester tried to look annoyed, but in fact he was quite pleased. Now that his phone was on, maybe he would manage to record something incriminating from that woman.  
  
The security guard left them and a few minutes later Diana appeared, followed by the nervous- looking man in glasses Lester had seen in the hall. As soon as he saw her, Lester turned on the recorder on his phone.  
  
“Mr Harwood, I’m glad to see that security managed to find you before you left,” she said. “Mr Johnson, our photographer, arrived with new pictures just a few minutes ago and I thought you might be very interested in taking a look at them.”  
  
The balding man handed a small folder to Lester and nervously straightened his glasses. Lester flicked through the photographs in the folder and made some appreciative sounds at the pictures of mammoths and other extinct creatures that had been beautifully captured on camera. Surprisingly, Lester realised that the photographer wasn’t paying him any attention; he was, instead, looking closely at Ryan.  
  
“Thank you, Mr Johnson. That will be all,” Diana said, looking straight at the man.  
  
Johnson nodded pointedly at her and walked away, towards the lift.  
  
“This is very interesting, Diana, but I thought I had already made it clear that I need something more solid than a photograph,” Lester said when he finished looking at the pictures.  
  
“Oh, I know, but there is something else I’d like to show you. I think you aren’t going to be disappointed this time,” she said with a big smile. “They are bringing it here now, as we speak.”  
  
Lester was slightly nervous and the tension in Ryan’s shoulders told him he wasn’t the only one, but it was important to keep playing their part.  
  
“I should already be on my way to an important business dinner so I really hope this delay is worth it, Diana,” he said as he looked at his watch.  
  
“I assure you it will be just a moment,” she answered. “They’re bringing it down on the lift. If you could come with me, please?”  
  
Diana showed him the way to the lift and Lester reluctantly followed her. She waited beside the lift doors, smiling widely as if she had some big present ready for him. When finally the doors opened, though, they revealed four huge men that rushed upon them.  
  
Lester had a moment to see two of those thugs pouncing on Ryan before another one punched him on the head. Then everything went dark.  
  


 

***

  
  
Lester woke up slowly, but couldn’t really see a thing. Everything was dark. He soon realised that his wrists were bound by metal handcuffs and that wherever he was, it was moving. The bump that made his head hit the hard surface beneath him confirmed that he was probably inside the boot of a car. It also made his head hurt like hell.  
  
Lester groaned in pain and tried to roll to his side, but he bumped into something warm and solid.  
  
“Lester, are you OK?” Ryan whispered from just a few centimetres away.  
  
“I’m going to assume it’s a rhetorical question, Captain,” Lester replied, groaning softly after another bump.  
  
Ryan sporfled and Lester felt the soft puff of breath on his face.  
  
“I’ll take that as a yes, sir,” he said. “I saw they cuffed you too before they dumped us both in the boot of our car, I’ll try to get you out of those cuffs now that I’ve opened mine.”  
  
Lester felt Ryan moving slightly beside him and heard a light clanking sound.  
  
“I’ll never complain again about Danny being a bad influence on the team, sir,” Ryan added while he started feeling Lester’s arm, trying to find his hands. “Some of the tricks he’s taught us come in really handy sometimes.”  
  
It took Ryan a while to open the cuffs and Lester didn’t even realise he had dozed again until he was jerked awake by Ryan’s voice calling his name and the soldier’s strong hands feeling his chest.  
  
“Lester, you with me?” Ryan was saying, sounding slightly worried.  
  
“Yes, Ryan,” he answered and moved his now free hands a bit. “Nowhere else to go right now.”  
  
One of Ryan’s hands moved up his arm and found his neck while the other one stayed comfortably over his chest. That alone was enough to fully wake him up and Lester had to be thankful for the darkness because he was sure he was blushing furiously. Then Ryan started feeling his temple softly and Lester was trying very hard not to moan when Ryan touched a spot that made him choke a cry of pain.  
  
“I saw you hit the floor hard when you fell,” Ryan said. “It feels like you have a cut, but I can’t really tell how bad it is.”  
  
“I’ve had worse headaches after some meetings with the Minister, Ryan,” Lester said when the pain faded away. “I’ll survive.”  
  
Ryan’s hand moved away from his head, to Lester’s disappointment. He blamed the sentimentalism on the blow to the head, because the rational part of his mind was telling him that he should be worrying about their kidnappers and what they were planning to do with them. His hand, though, decided on its own to move forward to touch Ryan’s body.  
  
“And what about you?” Lester asked. “Are you OK?”  
  
“Just a bit battered,” he answered. “But I’ll survive too.”  
  
Ryan’s hand moved on his chest to grab Lester’s tie.  
  
“They took our phones and my earplug, but they were in a hurry or they were sloppy,” he explained. “They didn’t check for other devices, the tiepin is still here.”  
  
“But it doesn’t work...”  
  
“Yes, but there is also a tracking device in the car. We added it at the last minute, just in case.”  
  
“Then the team will know where to find us,” Lester said, deeply relieved.  
  
“Yes...” Ryan faltered. “After a while, once they see that we don’t get there. We’ve already told them that we are on our way back.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
 “They might check where we are before that, we don’t know for sure,” Ryan added.  
  
Lester didn’t reply to that. They both stayed quiet for a while. Then the hand on Lester’s chest moved away and he missed the reassuring touch immediately.  
  
“Once they get us out of the car we’ll have to keep calm and try to gain us some time until help arrives,” Ryan finally said.  
  
Lester felt Ryan’s hands on him again and the cool metal of the cuffs on his wrist.  
  
“I’ll put these on again, but they’ll be loose so it’ll be easy to take them off,” Ryan explained. “I’ll put mine on too so they’ll think we are both defenceless.”  
  
“And the plan is...?”  
  
“To wait for our chance,” Ryan answered. “And improvise.”  
  
“It doesn’t sound as if the success rate of plans like that would be very high.”  
  
“High enough, sir,” Ryan said as he finished adjusting the cuffs.  
  
His hand squeezed lightly Lester’s arm and to Lester’s relief, it didn’t move away.

 

...


	3. Chapter 3

The car finally stopped and they could hear people getting out of the vehicle, but nobody opened the boot to take them out. The comforting weight of Ryan’s hand on his arm finally disappeared and Lester supposed the soldier was getting ready in case they had to _improvise_ , but nothing happened for what felt like an eternity.  
  
Eventually, they heard the sound of another car stopping beside them and the voice of Diana ordering to get them out of the car.  
  
They were unceremoniously taken out of the boot and when his eyes adjusted to the light again, Lester saw they were at the docks, surrounded by dozens of containers and not a single soul in sight aside from the same men that had attacked them back at the car park and a rather angry Diana. Lester noticed her friendly expression was completely gone and it had been replaced by a very cold stare.  
  
“You said you were offering unusual experiences, Diana, but I have to say I’m not pleased at all with this,” Lester started.  
  
“Let’s cut to the chase, _Mr Harwood_ ,” Diana said. “There were a few things about you that didn’t tally, but now we know why. One of my employees has recognised your chauffeur and he’s very sure he works for the government so we can only assume you do too.”  
  
“I don’t know wh-”  
  
“Please, save it,” she interrupted him. “Now I’m the one who doesn’t have time for silliness. The man was a train-spotter that found something much more interesting one day at a train station in the Forest of Dean. He changed his hobby and started spending the time chasing strange creatures’ sightings. That’s when we found him and decided to hire him.”  
  
“Do you usually employ crazy men that you find on the street?” Lester said. “That says a lot about the seriousness of your business.”  
  
The sarcasm sounded weak even to him, but Lester was starting to think that there was nothing he could say that would convince her anyway. He remembered there had been a witness in the anomaly at the Blue Sky Theme Park, an annoying man who had photos of the smilodon attack and had wanted to use them to make him rich.  
  
“The man takes beautiful photographs, as you have seen,” she replied. “And had interesting information to share, especially about a government team that appears immediately at every weird animal sighting to cover everything up.”  
  
“It definitely sounds like the story of a lunatic.”  
  
“Oh, but he seems very sure and insists that this man,” she added, pointing at Ryan, “is a soldier that works in that team, the same team that dragged him away from the train station that day and stole his chance to make a fortune.”  
  
“Preposterous!” Lester said in an offended tone.  
  
If the word of that man was all they had, he had to keep pretending, Lester thought. Even if she decided not to believe him in the end, at least they would gain some time, and so far it was the best and probably only option they had. There were four men surrounding them, huge and armed and considering how dark the sky was now, it was probably too late for the dock workers to still be around the place. There was surely a guard somewhere, but Lester wasn’t going to hold his breath waiting for him to appear to save the day.  
  
“I’m not sure if that man is just delusional or if this is some kind of joke for him, but I can assure you that story is completely ridiculous,” Lester said.  
He turned to Ryan, who had been quiet the whole time, and looked at him inquiringly.  
  
“I have no idea what they’re talking about!” Ryan said, faking confusion.  
  
“This is obviously a stupid mistake or an insulting joke,” Lester said, turning to Diana again. “But either way, Diana, I’m extremely offended by the way you’ve treated us.”  
  
Diana looked at them with a shark-like smile that made Lester fear the worst. She took out her phone, looked for something in it and then turned the phone to show it to them.  
  
“Kenny had to go back to find this, but he finally found it and sent it to me.”  
  
It was a picture, not as good as the other ones, but good enough to see a few soldiers trying to keep people away and there, in the middle of it, Ryan’s face was clearly visible.  
  
“You’ll surely try to tell me now that your chauffeur has a twin brother, but don’t bother,” Diana said dismissively.  
  
Her tone sent chills down Lester’s spine. There was no way to deny it now, their cover was blown.  
  
“This is a very profitable business and we knew eventually somebody was going to try to ruin it,” Diana explained. “But we know how to take care of these things.”  
  
Diana turned her back and walked towards one of her men. Lester could see Ryan changing his stance, but Lester was sure that fighting was going to be totally useless.  
  
“Put a bullet through their heads and get rid of the bodies,” Diana said to the man.  
  
When Diana’s man took out his gun, Lester decided to play his last card.  
  
“Your business is already over!” he said in his most commanding voice.  
  
Diana, who was already walking to her car, turned to look at him questioningly.  
  
“A Special Forces team is about to get here and you’ll have nowhere to run,” Lester added, looking at her defiantly.  
  
He could see Ryan was staring at him with a blank expression on his face, probably wondering what the hell he was doing.  
  
“That sounds highly unlikely,” Diana replied calmly. “You’ve been seen leaving the agency and your car was spotted driving out... of the car park.”  
  
She had faltered at the end. She had probably realised now that they hadn’t searched them or the car for bugs before bringing them here, Lester thought. Quite a beginner’s mistake that he was extremely grateful for.  
  
“They’ve been following us from the beginning,” Lester said. “The offices are probably being searched right now and you are all going to be held responsible for many illegal activities, I recommend you not to add murder to your charges,” he added looking straight at the armed thugs.  
  
Diana frowned, but soon a smile reappeared on her face. Lester kept his chin up and looked at her scornfully, but deep down he had the sinking feeling that this wasn’t going to end well.  
  
“I think you’re bluffing,” she said. “Nobody has followed your car. Or mine. We would have noticed it.”  
  
Diana walked towards one of the containers and signalled her men to follow her. Lester and Ryan were pushed forward with the barrel of a gun on their backs.  
  
“We have a very special delivery waiting here for a more appropriate transport and I think the sedative is going to wear off soon,” Diana said  
One of the men opened the container carefully while a second man covered him with his gun and immediately the suffocating smell of a big animal confined to a poorly ventilated space reached their noses.  
  
“A client made an offer for a living specimen that we couldn’t ignore,” Diana explained. “We should sedate it again soon or it’ll be too aggressive to handle, but I thought we could play a little game instead.”  
  
When they opened the doors completely Lester saw a cage almost as big as the container. The light that filtered through the small ventilation slots wasn’t enough to see the back of the cage clearly, but even in the dim light, the shape of a big creature was noticeable, lying completely still on the floor.  
  
“We’ll put you both inside,” Diana announced cheerfully. “If it’s true that the soldiers of yours are about to arrive, they’ll get you out before it’s too late. If not... well, the creature will be sated for a few hours after such a splendid treat and we’ll sedate it later. Sedation is always tricky with big animals like this.”  
  
One of the men, gun in hand, got closer to the cage and nodded approvingly.  
  
“It’s still unconscious,” he said to his partner.  
  
They opened the door of the cage and turned to look at Ryan and Lester with a cruel smile on their faces.  
  
“Your turn, gentlemen,” Diana said, stepping aside and offering them free way to enter the container.  
  
The thug at his back pushed Lester with his gun, prompting him to walk inside, but Lester tried to resist. He tried to come up with something that would keep them outside the cage a little longer, but nothing came to his mind. Suddenly there was a spine-chilling roar and the thugs inside the container were thrown out, shrieking with pain.  
  
To his shock, Lester found himself a few metres away from a very furious smilodon that looked very conscious to him. He hardly had time to see the terrifying image of the smilodon baring its teeth, ready to strike, before Ryan threw him to the floor and covered him with his body. The thugs that had been at their backs didn’t react as fast, though.  
  
Crushed under Ryan’s weight, Lester caught a glimpse of the unfortunate bastards’ end. One of them, wide-eyed and terrified, tried to shoot at the creature, but the nervousness made him miss and that was it for him. The other one faltered for a moment and then decided to run while the cries of pain from his partner turned into a sickening gurgling sound, but his running attracted the smilodon’s attention and, in a heartbeat, the creature fell upon him.  
  
Fortunately for them the man had run in the opposite direction and had drawn away the smilodon, at least a bit. Ryan sat up slightly, taking off his cuffs, but kept Lester down with a heavy hand on his shoulder. Lester was about to protest when he saw the smilodon twitch and turn around furiously with a dart on its back, looking for a threat it couldn’t see.  
  
The smilodon staggered and then fell to the ground and finally Ryan let go of him. Lester sat up and took off his cuffs while he looked around and he soon spotted Stephen on the top of a block of containers nearby.  
  
Soldiers from the ARC team were already coming their way, but Ryan didn’t wait for them to arrive.  He stood up and ran to where Diana and the surviving thug from the container had gone to get away from the creature. The man was bleeding profusely from his shoulder, but he was trying to take his gun anyway. Fortunately Ryan was faster and with an impressive tackle, he threw the thug to the ground before the man could shoot him.  
While Ryan was holding the man against the floor, Diana managed to reach her car and start the engine. Lester stood up as she tried to drive away, skidding, but she didn’t get far. An ARC team vehicle was blocking the road and she had no choice but to get out of the car and surrender.  
  
As the cavalry finally took over, Lester walked slowly towards Ryan, who was handing the injured thug over to the soldiers. The chauffeur uniform was ruined and there were a few bruises on the soldier’s face, but otherwise he looked fine. Ryan turned to face him as Lester shook the dirt from his suit and he saw a little smile playing on the soldier’s lips.  
  
“I’m sorry to tell you this, sir, but I don’t think you’ll be able to return that suit.”  
  
Lester had to admit that it was true. There were grease-like stains on the suit and he had torn a hole right below his left knee, probably when he had been thrown to the ground. Also there seemed to be blood stains on his jacket.  
  
Ryan came closer to take a better look at Lester’s injury, but this time he kept his hands to himself. Lester felt disappointed; he would have liked to feel the touch of Ryan’s hands again, now that they weren’t in great peril. In fact, given the horrible day he had had, he would rather like to feel the soldier’s lips on his.  
  
Ryan turned his gaze to Lester’s face and this time Lester didn’t mind that he had been caught staring at the soldier’s mouth. A member of the medical team chose that moment to appear though, and soon Lester was ushered to the hospital for a thorough check while Ryan stayed there for the briefing.  
  


***

  
In the end their plan to locate the anomaly wasn’t faster or painless. Diana refused to talk and the surviving guard and Kenneth Johnson, although much more cooperative, didn’t know where the site was. It looked as if only very few people knew that information and the rest of the staff had been kept in the dark. And about the painless bit, well, many parts of Lester’s body complained loudly for days after their unexpected adventure.  
  
Eventually, Diana got a deal and told them where to find the anomaly. By then any business partners there could have been had had enough time to disappear so when the ARC team went to that place, an old industrial unit in Dartford, they found nobody. On the other side of the anomaly there were remains of a base camp, but nothing else.  
  
A few days after they located the anomaly, Ryan knocked on Lester’s office unexpectedly.  
  
“Yes, Captain, is there any problem?” Lester said, slightly surprised.  
  
“No, sir, not at all,” Ryan reassured him. “I just wanted to talk to you.”  
  
“Well, here I am, Captain,” Lester replied, raising an eyebrow. “Although probably not for long, I was thinking on heading home soon. After all, no matter how much paperwork I do every day, this pile of forms seems to grow up on its own at night.”  
  
 “I was thinking you might be interested in visiting the anomaly site, sir,” Ryan said.  
  
“I beg your pardon?”  
  
“You risked your life to find it and I thought you might like to see it with your own eyes,” he explained. “You don’t usually go through the anomalies and this one is quite a sight. I really think you’d appreciate seeing it.”  
  
Lester stared at Ryan, trying not to gape.  
  
“It’s safe, if you don’t go too far away, but I would go with you anyway, just to be safe,” Ryan added, looking straight at him. “My shift has already finished and it won’t get dark for a few hours yet, we should have enough time for a quick visit.”  
  
Lester blinked once, working very hard on keeping a neutral expression on his face.  
  
“I think it’s a good idea, Captain,” he finally answered. “Not many jobs give you the chance to travel in time and visit other eras and I should take the opportunity now that I can.”  
  
“Good!” Ryan said, his smile widening. “I’m going to change and clock off. We could get on our way in 15 minutes, if that’s OK?”  
  
“Perfect! I will try to put a bit of order in this and will meet you in the car park then.”  
  
Ryan nodded and turned to leave while Lester turned his attention again to the papers spread over his desk. Only when the door closed completely Lester allowed a big smile to appear on his face.  
  
Ryan insisted on both of them going in his car, saying it would be easier, and Lester agreed without putting up much of a fight. The trip was long, but they drove in a comfortable silence and fortunately avoided major traffic problems. When they arrived, the soldiers that were guarding the place greeted them and let them pass without asking any questions.  
  
Ryan led Lester to the anomaly and he stared in awe. No matter how many times he had seen the shining shards dancing in front of him, he doubted he would ever get totally used to seeing those rifts in space and time appearing out of nowhere.  
  
Ryan took a few steps forward and before going through the anomaly, he turned back to smile encouragingly at him. Without hesitation, Lester followed him and soon found himself in a very different world.  
  
The anomaly opened on the crest of a hill where the hunters' camp had been located and from there they could see a large grassland where a big herd of mammoths was grazing lazily under a cloudless sky. It was peaceful, it was magnificent and it said a lot about human nature that one of the first reactions after finding such a place had been to get profit from it by killing those innocent creatures.  
  
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”  
  
Ryan was standing by his side, looking very different in civilian clothing and far more relaxed than Lester was used to seeing him.  
  
“Yes, it is,” Lester agreed. “I’m glad you suggested this little visit, it was an excellent idea.”  
  
They watched the mammoths for a while and Ryan showed him, in the distance, a few places where other creatures could be spotted with the help of a pair of binoculars, but they didn’t go down the hill.  
  
“Too dangerous without backup,” Ryan explained. “I wouldn’t want you to end up being some creature’s dinner because of me.”  
  
“That would be highly unfortunate, indeed,” Lester said and then paused momentarily to gain some courage. “Now that you mention dinner, though, I have to say that it’s quite late and I’m starting to get hungry. I was thinking of dining out tonight, would you like to join me?”  
  
“I’d love to,” Ryan answered without hesitation.  
  
Lester smiled lightly and turned to walk back to the anomaly. He hadn’t really thought this through so he didn’t know what was going to happen next, but he was more than ready to discover it.  
  


  
END


End file.
